Mawlana Hazar Imam joins leaders of Tajikistan and Afghanistan to lay foundation of fifth cross-border bridge

Showun, Shurobad District, Tajikistan, 31 October 2011 — Mawlana Hazar Imam, together with the President of Tajikistan, His Excellency Emomali Rahmon, and Afghanistan’s Minister of Public Works His Excellency Abdulkudus Hamidi, performed the foundation-stone ceremony for the Shurobod Bridge today.

The bridge is the fifth to be built in partnership with the Aga Khan Development Network, and will connect the Shurobod District of Khatlon Region in Tajikistan with the Khohon Province of Afghanistan.
Since 2002, AKDN has constructed four bridges — at Darwaz, Tem, Ishkashim and Vanj. Today they serve as primary transport links between Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Oblast and northern Afghanistan, and are key conduits for humanitarian assistance, commerce and socio-cultural exchange in these remote and isolated areas.
“What you are doing today is setting a remarkable example of people coming together for a common purpose across frontiers,” said Mawlana Hazar Imam, who was thanking the governments of Tajikistan and Afghanistan, “and that common purpose is to improve the quality of life of every individual in those societies.”
Read MOre @ >>>> http://www.theismaili.org/cms/1284/Mawlana-Hazar-Imam-joins-leaders-of-Tajikistan-and-Afghanistan-to-lay-foundation-of-fifth-crossborder-bridge